12 best shopping cities in the world – CNN

12 best shopping cities in the world – CNN

(CNN) — From a shopper’s perspective, frequent traveling can be crippling. It can get worse in the holiday season where Christmas dominates many people’s calendars. Why buy something in one city when a trip to a better shopping city is coming up?

To pinpoint which cities around the world deliver the most gratifying, enjoyable shopping experiences, we consulted global experts, such as fashion merchandising firm Donegar Creative Services and Marie Bergfelt, senior spokesperson for Global Blue, which publishes the Globe Shopper City Index.

Then we judged cities in four areas, using a 1-to-10 scoring scale for each category:

1. Getting around: Quality of public transportation, affordability and availability of cabs, transport time

2. Value: Bargain opportunities, such as sale seasons and average prices.

3. Variety: Number of available brands, range of shopping categories, quantity of upscale shops, department stores, boutique and vintage retailers and market stalls.

4. Experience: City beauty, quality of window displays and shop décor, friendliness and competence of clerks and service staff, dining and accommodation options.

Then we charged into the breach.

12. Seoul

Getting around: 4 Value: 7 Variety: 4 Experience: 6 Total: 21

South Korea recorded more credit card transactions per person than any other country in 2011, and all merchants are required by law to accept credit cards no matter how low the price. Yes, that means the phrase “cash only, please” is technically illegal.

Whip out the plastic at:

Garosugil, Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu (shop-lined trendy street), accessible via subway from Sinsa Station (Subway Line 3)

11. Milan

Getting around: 5 Value: 5 Variety: 4 Experience: 8 Total: 22

Home to many of fashion’s biggest names such as Prada, Dolce & Gabbana and Versace, it’s little wonder this beautiful city is full of glamorous locals and shops that cater to them.

One of the most beautiful (if expensive) shopping experiences can be found at Quadrilatero della Moda or Quadrilatero d’Oro (‘rectangle of gold’), which many fashion insiders consider is the world’s most important fashion district.

The interwoven pedestrian streets are lined with jewelers, boutiques and lifestyle showrooms that make for great window shopping.

While the boutiques cater to the alligator-bag-and-black-card-toting crowd, luckily for bargain shoppers, yesterday’s styles are tossed aside so fast, outlets and sales racks are always full.

No one back home needs to know it was bought at an outlet mall — Milan fashions are always months ahead of the trends elsewhere.

Whip out the plastic at:

10. Madrid

Getting around: 6 Value: 6 Variety: 4 Experience: 7 Total: 23

Madrid mostly gets our credit cards warm simply for being Madrid, though it’s worth noting that the city ranks third for best prices on general luxury items in the Globe Shopper Index.

But we can’t wow our friends with statistics (not our shopping friends, anyway), so what about the goods?

Casa de Diego stocks souvenir-worthy fans, mantillas, ornamental combs and even castanets. But what we really wanted to take home was one of its work-of-art statement umbrellas with engraved silver handle (€325/US$415).

Whip out the plastic at:

9. Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Getting around: 6 Value: 6 Variety: 8 Experience: 4 Total: 24

If that isn’t enough cash registers, there’s also the Mall of the Emirates, with the first indoor ski resort in the Middle East.

The Dubai Mall also hosts the annual Dubai Shopping Festival in January and February. We assume it’s called a festival because they have fireworks, but it’s really about package deals and discounts — up to 70% on electronics, clothing and popular items.

Whip out the plastic at:

8. Vienna

Getting around: 6 Value: 8 Variety: 3 Experience: 8 Total: 25

With some of the earliest closing hours out of all the cities on the Globe Shopper Index, Vienna is tricky for shopping.

Total buzz kill, right? But it also has some of the best values in Europe, coming in second on the Index for total cost of luxury items.

At the centuries-old Naschmarkt, shoppers can eat their way along 1.5 kilometers of 120 food vendors flogging local eats from kaiserschmarrn (dessert pancakes) and crepe-like palatschinke to exotic cheeses and seafood.

During Christmas season, they can browse through glass baubles and handcrafted ornaments while sipping on glühwein at Vienna’s venerable and gloriously lit Christmas markets, the Platonic ideal of a fairy tale Christmas.

That’s good for an extra “Experience” point and an eighth-place finish.

Whip out the plastic at:

7. Buenos Aires

Getting around: 6 Value: 8 Variety: 6 Experience: 7 Total: 27

Calle Murillo is a street with leather shops that also offer tailoring services. Murillo 666 is perhaps the best known, but about 50 more surround it, a handy surfeit of shops come haggle time.

Whip out the plastic at:

Moscasines Guido, Rodríguez Peña 1290, Buenos Aires; +54 11 4813 4095; open Monday-Friday 9:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m., Saturday 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

Murillo 666, Murilla 66, Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires Province; +54 11 4856 4501; open Monday-Saturday 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.-7 p.m.

6. Hong Kong

Getting around: 10 Value: 5 Variety: 6 Experience: 7 Total: 28

If you don’t know where you’re going, they’ll follow you around till you find it. If you don’t know what you want, they’ll tell you.

But the obsessive help can come in handy, especially if it leads to a world-class bargain.

According to Global Shopper City Index research, 87 percent of Hong Kong tourists shop, and “76 percent of shopping tourists expressed above-average satisfaction on value for money in 2011.” Small wonder that Hong Kong also claims the title of best Asian shopping city in the Index.

For a bespoke shopping experience that involves local color, we hit up individual boutiques.

Fang Fong Projects in Central stocks womenswear from local label Fang Fong, which is like a Shanghai Tang that you’d actually wear often — modern clothes with tasteful Asian touches.

Frequented by celebrities, KniQ stocks one-of-a-kind items like artfully ripped stockings (HK$320/US$41), and a selection of jumpsuits for men that costs upward of HK$2,000 ($250).

Whip out the plastic at:

Fang Fong Projects, 67A Peel St., Central, Hong Kong; +852 3105 5557; open daily 2-8 p.m.

5. Paris

Getting around: 6 Value: 6 Variety: 8 Experience: 9 Total: 29

Whimsical concept shop Merci stocks a selection of designer goods that fall under the category of utterly useless but absolutely desirable, such as art deco Bakelite switches. It’s housed in an airy and vaguely bucolic space that includes a secondhand bookshop, florist and café. In addition to the Annick Goutal scent line, Merci stocks apparel by Stella McCartney and Yves St Laurent, often with deep discounts.

And, of course, there’s the holy trinity of Parisian department stores:

Le Bon Marché dates to the 1850s. It’s famed for a monster section of gourmet food (5,000 choices strong).

Printemps has the world’s largest beauty department. This year the store is partnering with Christian Dior for an exclusive line.

Whip out the plastic at:

4. Kuala Lumpur

Getting around: 6 Value: 10 Variety: 8 Experience: 6 Total: 30

Sometimes bigger really is better.

Three of the world’s 10 largest malls are in KL, including 1 Utama, the world’s fourth-largest mall with more than 650 shops, Asia’s largest indoor rock climbing facility, massive rooftop garden with 500 species of exotic plants and indoor rainforest with koi ponds and freshwater aquarium.

Whip out the plastic at:

Local designer Peter Hoe’s store in KL’s historical building: Peter Hoe Beyond, 145 Jaan Tun HS Lee, Kuala Lumpur, +60 3 2026 9788, open daily 10 a.m.- 7 p.m.

3. London

Getting around: 6 Value: 6 Variety: 10 Experience: 9 Total: 31

The Globe Shopper City Index notes that London outstrips all the other European cities in both the quantity of shops and availability of international and local brands.

London shopping at its best is bold, eclectic and international. Case in point: department store Liberty.

Liberty may have a Tudor-style exterior and fireplaces, but its stock is contemporary and cool, encompassing in-house designer stationary, clever kitchen accessories to upstage your neighbors and clothes from a select pool of local and international designers.

Of course, you might end up with a £245 (US$390) Mathieu Challières Mini Volière Bird Cage Table Lamp, but that’s the black magic of a wonderful shop — it inspires you to buy things you never knew existed.

Whip out the plastic at:

2. Tokyo

Getting around: 8 Value: 8 Variety: 9 Experience: 9 Total: 34

Global chain Isetan has its mammoth flagship store in Shinjuku, eight separate buildings stretched along two blocks. Isetan has English, Chinese and Korean-speaking staff and a personalized interpretation service, as well as shopping consultants who will advise you on everything from shoes to fish, all available through reservation (+81 3 3225 2514).

A foodie heaven, the basement has dainty Japanese bento boxes as well as French pastries and macaroons. When shopping for clothes you can take a break from the international luxury brands on stock to try on some kimonos.

Tokyo’s shopping is also surprisingly affordable, according to the Globe Shopper City Index, with Asia’s fourth-cheapest shopping, and the cheapest average price for a Canon EOS 600D body.

All this too tame? No worries, Tokyo still gets its freak on. Shops like the seven-story M’s: Pop Life Sex Department Store sell creative toys such as you’ve never seen and we prefer not to describe in front of our impressionable interns.

Whip out the plastic at:

1. New York

Getting around: 8 Value: 7 Variety: 10 Experience: 10 Total: 35

For something you can’t simply Google up, Lee recommends vintage showroom Rare Vintage for “anyone who is visiting and in search of a shopping gem unique to NYC.”

“You can find pieces from every possible era spanning the entire last century of fashion history, and from a wide range of design houses including the likes of Galanos, Dior, Givenchy, Ungaro, Pierre Cardin, Ossie Clark, and more,” says Lee.

Whip out the plastic at:

Originally published November 2012; updated November 2013.

Published at Wed, 19 Feb 2014 08:00:00 +0000